Panchayati Raj

her life

Good or bad to call women leaders ‘mahila sarpanch?’

Identifying women leaders by gender – like ‘mahila sarpanch’ – seems a step back, but one development worker sees it as acknowledging the challenges women overcame to become leaders.

her life

Only neglected India lives in the villages

On Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, a look at rural India shows that we have fallen much behind his ideal of self-reliant village republics, in part because of changed aspirations of modern times

her life

Inspired local governance transforms villages in Odanthurai

The Odanthurai village council in southern Tamil Nadu has shown how a Panchayati Raj institution can achieve holistic rural development with the help of wise leadership and community participation